# To think inside the box, or to think out of the box? Scientific discovery via the reciprocation of insights and concepts

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.00258 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00258/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 49 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Dec 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Efficient Estimation of Word Representations in Vector Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1301.3781/) (2013)
- [Distributed Representations of Words and Phrases and their Compositionality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1310.4546/) (2013)
- [Rapid trial-and-error learning with simulation supports flexible tool use and physical reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.09620/) (2019)
- [People construct simplified mental representations to plan](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.06948/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

If scientific discovery is one of the main driving forces of human progress, insight is the fuel for the engine, which has long attracted behavior-level research to understand and model its underlying cognitive process. However, current tasks that abstract scientific discovery mostly focus on the emergence of insight, ignoring the special role played by domain knowledge. In this concept paper, we view scientific discovery as an interplay between thinking  out  of  the  box that actively seeks insightful solutions and thinking  inside  the  box that generalizes on conceptual domain knowledge to keep correct. Accordingly, we propose Mindle, a semantic searching game that triggers scientific-discovery-like thinking spontaneously, as infrastructure for exploring scientific discovery on a large scale. On this basis, the meta-strategies for insights and the usage of concepts can be investigated reciprocally. In the pilot studies, several interesting observations inspire elaborated hypotheses on meta-strategies, context, and individual diversity for further investigations.